German Bowl XL

Frankfurt Universe had been founded by fans of the defunct Frankfurt Galaxy after the 2007 NFL Europa season ended with both the league and the Frankfurt franchise being dissolved on the orders of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who had taken over the office from NFL Europe booster and founder Paul Tagliabue the previous year.^[1][2] Taking the field for the first time in 2008 in the fifth tier Landesliga Hessen, they would make their way through the American football league pyramid of Germany, before reaching the first tier German Football League playing their first season in the top flight of American football in Germany in 2016. While the team proved an immediate playoff contender, their 2016 campaign ended in the quarter-finals with a 10–7 defeat to the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes while in 2017 the defending champion Braunschweig Lions knocked them out in the semifinal 23–21 after Universe had given the Dresden Monarchs their first quarter-final defeat in eight years. Universe was the first team from Frankfurt am Main since the Frankfurter Löwen (the first American Football team founded in Germany) to reach the German Bowl and German Bowl XL was the first time since German Bowl III (1981) that two teams from the GFL South (per the current division of Germany into GFL divisions) faced each other in the final breaking decades of northern dominance by shutting out the North from the final for the first time in 37 years.

The Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns reached the German Bowl comfortably by dominating their division (the only games where the result was in much doubt were those against Frankfurt) and prevailed in the playoffs to reach their fifth consecutive German Bowl with the possibility of defending their 2017 title and earning their fourth national championship in club history.

The conventional wisdom in the GFL said that no team usually wins three matchups against the same opponent in one season (notwithstanding that Braunschweig had done so as recently as German Bowl XXXV when they dealt the Dresden Monarchs their third defeat against the same opponent that year) and the Frankfurt team, bolstered by their sponsors Samsung and strong attendance figures, had assembled a veritable "All Star Team" of players that had been on the rosters of various top teams throughout Europe in previous years went into the game confidently, especially since they had eliminated the strongly rated Braunschweig squad in the semifinal on the road to reach the Bowl. Still, the Unicorns as defending champions and observers expected a close matchup with small individual actions perhaps making the difference between victory and defeat.

The biggest surprise of the quarter-finals was ironically the difficulty Frankfurt had in overcoming the Berlin Rebels in a game with now touchdowns, ultimately prevailing 6–5 on two out of two attempted Field Goals being good. Otherwise, all home teams won their quarter finals in convincing fashion. In the semifinal the Dresden Monarchs had to travel to Schwäbisch Hall for the fourth time since 2014 and once again the Unicorns defeated their Saxonian rivals. The other semifinal saw a repeat of the one from the previous year with the Braunschweig Lions hosting Frankfurt Universe. In a close game, the score remained tied 10–10 at the end of regulation and overtime according to (modified) NCAA-rules had to be played. Each team would get a chance at scoring starting at the opponent's 25 yard line in turn until after an equal number of possessions, one team was ahead. Braunschweig having a chance to score first, both teams scored touchdowns and point after Touchdowns on their first possession but on the second possession, the Frankfurt Defense managed to grab an Interception and thus on the ensuing possession by Frankfurt all it took them was an easy Field Goal to advance to their first ever German Bowl, leaving record champion Braunschweig out of the final for the first time since 2012.